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Cornelius

By 1997, Japanese musician Keigo Oyamada was already well known in his home country, having hit it big with Flipper’s Guitar, one of the leading bands in the Shibuya-kei orchestral pop scene. But that year, Oyamada released his third solo album, Fantasma, under the name Cornelius, and its exhilarating, genre-defying sound carried his name and reputation around the world. Fantasma is a crate-digger’s delight, a masterwork of musical collage, an incredible headphone experience, and a high point of indie’s ’90s heyday. Cornelius released Point in 2001 and Sensuous in 2006 before going underground for about a decade to focus on remixes, production work, soundtracks, and other film music. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, of course, so last year, when Cornelius announced a new album called Mellow Waves, a whole generation of indie rockers rejoiced. It’s lush, laidback, and effortlessly beautiful—solid evidence that all these years later, whatever Cornelius touches still turns into odd-pop gold.